The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has decided to make it mandatory to pay salaries of all domestic workers working in Saudi Arabia through government channels. This decision will be fully effective from January 1, 2026.
The Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development said that this initiative has been taken to protect the salary-related rights of domestic workers and to make the contractual relationship between employers and employees more transparent. Salaries will have to be transferred electronically through the Musaned platform supervised by the ministry.
The government channels will include digital wallets and participating banks. The authorities believe that ensuring salary payment using these channels will increase the reliability of wage payment, reduce cash transactions and lead to overall development of the domestic worker sector.
The ministry said that both employers and employees will benefit from paying salaries through designated government channels. This will make it easier to verify salaries, it will be easier to complete the process of travel after the contract ends, and domestic workers will receive their salaries regularly, safely and consistently. At the same time, domestic workers will be able to send money to their families in their own countries easily and safely through these channels.
It is worth noting that the first phase of the implementation of this decision began on July 1, 2024. In that phase, for the first time, it was mandatory to pay salaries through government channels for domestic workers arriving in Saudi Arabia. The aim was to reduce cash transactions, improve the workin environment, and make the salary payment process faster and more reliable. In subsequent phases, more employers were included in the phase. The second phase, which began in January 2025, included employers of four or more domestic workers. The third phase, which began in July 2025, included employers of three or more domestic workers. The last fourth phase, which includes employers of two or more domestic workers, came into effect on October 1.
According to the Musaned platform, the employer will be obliged to pay the wages specified in the contract. Usually, this wage must be paid to the domestic worker at the end of each Hijri month, unless both parties reach a different agreement in writing. In addition, domestic workers will be able to withdraw cash through approved channels if they wish.
In this case, they will be provided with a Mada card. However, domestic workers who are covered by the wage protection system must transfer their salaries through approved government channels. This system will further protect the rights of domestic workers and establish transparency and discipline in the domestic sector in Saudi Arabia.
